Doomed Confessionary: Nicolas Simon (Cløudy Skies)
Cløudy Skies is an atmospheric post-metal duo based in the suburbs of Paris, France. Blending their metal roots with ethereal music, they lead to the creation of an immersive soundtrack for dreamers.
The band’s debut full-length album »Changes« dropped on January 20th, 2023 via Argonauta Records. Conny Pettersson (Anata, Eternal Lies, Trojan Dogs) was hired to perform subtle, ethereal, groovy and brutal drum parts. Cløudy Skies focused on sound quality and took particular care in fine-tuning track mixing. As for the mastering, it has been processed by Magnus Lindberg responsible for many great albums (Cult Of Luna, Ghost, Switchblade, pg.lost).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Cløudy Skies was born in 2019 from the ashes of the backened post metallers Eyes Front North. CS is an atmospheric post-metal band with dreamy vibes sublimed by dreamy lyrics. CS is mostly 2 people (2 old friends): Lionel and Nicolas. Lionel is bassist/singer and Nicolas is guitarist/lyricist.
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
We had a lot of trouble finding a drummer! In fact, to explain the story, to be very efficient, we recorded our album with a professional drummer based in Sweden (Conny Pettersson). He’s very talented… but perhaps we set the bar too high to have our own drummer ? That’s what we thought for a year and a half, because nobody answered our ad for a drummer. (even though 956 people read the ad).
What can you be most proud of last year?
We’ve been heard and reviewed in many countries. We also had the opportunity to be interviewed by Hector for The Chill Dude On A Couch Videocast (Puerto Rico, USA). The interview was really interesting, with a desire to understand our musical approach. Lionel was also invited to sing on the »Oddity« album by our friends Nature Morte (blackgaze, Paris, huge recommendation from us): A great honor!
What was your biggest regret?
To have not been able to perform a gig, to share our music and cool moments with people. I could add that we also regret to have a lack of french support (ad, album review, interviews) regarding the release of our album. CDs are not very attractive in those “streaming” times…we didn’t sell a lot. However folks, you miss something ! sound quality is stunning on CD… and artwork is stunningly real (no AI folks)!
What was the best concert/tour last year and why?
As I said, without a drummer we couldn’t tour I’d say the best gig last year was the terrific country guy “Charley Crockett”. We had a heat wave last summer… the venue where Charley was to perform was very hot. Charley came with his band (all dressed in Texas cowboy costumes) and they played without any embarrassment for almost 2 hours. Impressive! But let me think… I also saw Rival Sons… boy, were they great. They played for at least 2 hours and had a clear, massive sound that brought you magic: mind-blowing band!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
These bands/artists I quote changed something for me: Deafheaven’s way of rethinking “modern extreme metal”, Slowdive’s ethereal music (what a comeback by the way), Tame Impala’s psychedlic sound experience (Kevin Parker is a genius), Mac Demarco’s weirdness (this guy is crazy, he can do everything … so talented), Kurt Vile’s indie lo-fi folk DIY spirit (amazing guy with a peaceful attitude)… sorry I love so many artists!
Where can we see you live next year (concerts/tours)?
I hope with the arrival of our new drummer that we could tour in 2024, at least in France (as far as possible from our living room please ). I also know that our friends in Nature Morte are waiting for us to share a gig and of course have some fun. Why touring if it is not fun at all? CS is not only a band, it is composed of real humans that love meeting people and sharing with them. These meetings are part of our/their memories. In general they never forget us.
What are your plans for the this year as a band? What do you personally want the most?
We want to record an EP with our new drummer. The perfect link to go on with the changes introduced in »Changes« (our album is named changes if you are not aware ). More ethereal parts, more instrumental parts, more “synths”, more progressive, more contrasts, more dreams… We are confident: It will be great one!
Personnaly I’d love to meet the musicians I love so much and talk about how they create such great songs. I’d also like to be able to sit in on their rehearsals and soak up the atmosphere. And I’d love to meet Brady Smith from Old Blood Noise Endeavors even if he lives very far from France and tell him how he’s changed the way I use effects pedals (coffee and riffs episode on Youtube! damn!!! )… the power of effects layers in songs… Am I already dreaming of 2024?!
What are your New Year’s Eve activities like?
I am really not a New Year’s Eve guy Partying, dancing all night long… not my tea cup. I guess I will watch a good “old school” movie (E.T., The Burbs, Vertigo, Suspiria…) or a X-mas special TV Show (The Simpsons, Trailer Park Boys) and of course listen to good old vinyls (Neil Young, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, Terry Reid, Waylon Jennings, Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh…). I would say I won’t avoid to savour good Beers to pleasantly end up the year 2023… and dream of 2024.
How can people best support your band?
Nowadays, the best they could (couldn’t they?) do is posting their “love/support” on Instagram and Facebook (Tiktok, even if I don’t know if it is good). And if people gather, in a more conventional way, they could also share with their friends some music they like (Look at my CD bro! Damn, you got a piece of history bro: a CD!). If they can they could also buy some real stuffs we sell to spread the word (CDs and T-Shirt for example).
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Never stop dreaming folks… life is short, dreams are precious to keep our spirit fullfilled. Be proud of what you accomplished and please be benevolent… peace, love and dreams.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well